Ghost Host Power Analysis for Cluster Capacity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Efficiently managing cluster resources is complex, especially when workload demands vary, and determining the necessary resource capacity to add to a cluster is challenging due to the complexity of matching workload requirements with available resources.
Innovation Solution
A resource management system that generates a snapshot of the cluster, adds a fictitious 'ghost host' based on physical hosts, and performs a power management analysis to recommend increasing resource capacity by powering on additional hosts, allowing for dynamic resizing to match workload demands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If power management analysis is performed on the actual cluster without additional capacity, then power usage is optimized, but the ability to evaluate and plan for future resource needs is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a ghost host that is a virtual copy of a physical host computer with identical resource specifications. This ghost host is added to a snapshot of the cluster for power management analysis, enabling the system to evaluate scenarios with additional capacity without actually adding physical hardware. The ghost host serves as a hypothetical representation that allows planning and evaluation of future resource needs while keeping the actual cluster configuration unchanged.
2Productivity
If the cluster capacity is increased to meet varying workload demands, then the ability to handle workloads improves, but the complexity of managing and determining appropriate resource addition increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs power management analysis in advance by adding a ghost host to a cluster snapshot before actual workload demands occur. This preliminary analysis identifies optimal power management configurations and resource allocation strategies for future scenarios. By planning ahead with the ghost host representation, the system reduces the complexity of real-time decision-making when actual workload increases occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The ghost host acts as an intermediary between the current cluster state and future resource needs. It provides a virtual representation that mediates the complexity of evaluating different capacity scenarios without requiring physical experimentation or actual resource provisioning. The ghost host allows the power management analysis to simulate various capacity configurations and identify optimal strategies before implementation.
3Reliability
If a snapshot of the cluster is created for analysis, then the original cluster operation is not disrupted, but additional computational resources are required for maintaining and processing the snapshot
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a snapshot copy of the cluster configuration to include the ghost host for power management analysis. This copying approach allows the analysis to be performed on a representation of the cluster rather than the live system, ensuring that original cluster operations continue uninterrupted. The snapshot contains the necessary configuration data to evaluate power management scenarios without requiring access to or disruption of the actual running cluster.
Data Source
AI summary
A resource management system and method for performing resource capacity management in a cluster of host computers uses a snapshot of the cluster with one or more ghost host computers added to the cluster to execute a power management analysis. A ghost host computer is a fictitious construct based on a physical host computer. The results of the power management analysis may then be used as a cluster capacity recommendation to increase resource capacity of the cluster of host computers.